Ex-Overwatch CEO: Blizzard threatened with layoffs over revenue
It’s been almost five years since Jeff Kaplan, who was the game director of Blizzard Entertainment’s (and now Xbox’s, too) competing multiplayer shooter Overwatch, left the studio in 2021. Little was known about the reasons for Kaplan’s departure at the time; now, however, he has revealed the impetus for his exit.
Speaking in a massive new five-hour interview with YouTuber and podcaster Lex Fridman, Kaplan revealed that he ultimately left Blizzard due to the overwhelming demands for Overwatch revenue from the developer’s chief financial officer at the time. Specifically, the CFO threatened to lay off 1,000 developers if Overwatch didn’t meet certain performance goals, and told Kaplan that they would be blamed personally.
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Kaplan then went on to discuss the presence of for-profit executives in creative industries in general, asserting that engineers and other innovators easily lose control of their work when they work with publishers or bring financial executives into the fold.
“I think there’s a message to the creative people out there and the people who make things – we’re so focused on the love of the craft that we get lost in it, and we love doing it, and we don’t have the energy, and we don’t have it. that kind of ambition, we have a different kind of ambition, but there’s this whole world, especially since you’re lucky enough to succeed, that [is] very deep and ambitious,” Kaplan said of the for-profit side of the business.
“And for whatever reason, we continue to give ourselves to them. And we need to stop. World of Warcraft, when we did it, there was no CFO at Blizzard. You don’t need a CFO to make World of Warcraft. You need artists, engineers, designers, producers, and a sound team,” he pointed out.
Therefore, he says, the creative minds behind the games should be hired “on a whim,” and should not be given to those who will prioritize the pursuit of big profits over doing what is best for their work in the long term.
“I wish developers would understand their value, stop giving it to people who don’t deserve it,” Kaplan said.
I fully agree with Kaplan here, personally, and it’s sad to learn that what amounts to a corporate breach is what drove him to leave Blizzard. I’m glad you still have a place in this industry, though; his new studio Kintsugiyama is working on The Legend of California, an open world game with a strong emphasis on creativity.
🗨️ I’m coming to you!
I was honestly shocked to hear that Jeff Kaplan was given this decision by the then CFO of Blizzard, and it makes his sudden departure from the studio in 2021 very disappointing and sad. How do you feel about his sudden exit from the developer, and why? Let me know in the comments.
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